3 minute read
VI Pinball Expo in Cedar
BY FRANCESCA PACCHIANO
The largest pinball expo in British Columbia is back for its second annual showing and it’s happening in our own backyard. The Vancouver Island Pinball Expo is a three-day extravaganza with tournaments, food trucks and over a hundred pinball machines from the 1960s to present. The event will be held from September 27 to 29 at the Community Hall in Cedar.
Tyler Bates, co-founder of the VIPE, spoke about the tournament. “This year, we will have four different sanctioned IFPA [International Flipper Pinball Association] tournaments; they’re all for world rankings. We have three open and then the women’s tournament. We also have a free play section of 50 games that are available for anyone to play.”
This event and its tournaments draw pinball players from all over the world, some with very high rankings. Bates expects groups from YEGPIN in Edmonton, Canada’s largest pinball and arcade expo, to attend as well as “about ten of the top hundred players in the world.” Last year the VIPE’s main championship was won by Robert Gagno, former world champion.
Tournament passes are $300, with $200 of that going to the event’s prize pool and another portion going to support the Tillicum Lelum Aboriginal Friendship Centre. Last year, the expo raised $1,500 for the charity, and they hope to surpass that number. “This year, we’re hoping to hit $2,500,” said Bates. If you’re interested in this event and want to help out, volunteering is a great way to do that. “Volunteers would be huge for score keeping, for set up, take down, anything like that. And on our website, we have a full signup Genius site.” There are additional volunteering perks, such as a free play, entrance into a volunteer draw and “if you do enough hours, you get a T-shirt.”
Bates is a top thousandth player in his own right, and his love of pinballs started as a child. “My parents got one in our basement, so I always had one to play.” But it was his antique shop, Black Diamond Antiques: Collectables, Video Games and Pinball Arcade in Cedar that got him back into the pinball scene. “When I originally opened up, it was more of a picker-style shop with mostly antiques. … I realized that I was doing pretty well on every pinball machine I got. No one around here really repairs them, so I got really deep into repairing them.”
The VIPE originated with Bates and Shawn Orza, owner of Wiffle Games in Chemainus, when they started the Mid Island Pinball League. “We rotated between our two shops and we thought it’d be a great idea to bring all our games to one location. And that’s how the expo was born.”
The expo is not only an opportunity to compete but also to experience a wide assortment of games. “Me and Sean each bring around 20 to 25 each. And then we have other people who play in our league who are bringing them. John Walker, who owns Walker’s Saw Shop, is going to bring another 15 out. Nitro, from Vancouver, is BC’s largest distributor. They’re bringing a bunch of games out, and they’re the newest games, so we’re going to have some state-of-art games there.” For tickets and information visit www.vipinballexpo.com.
